1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention is generally related to equipment for use in the retail sales industry and is specifically directed to a display apparatus for displaying consumer goods, such as articles of clothing, for sale in a retail environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the retail sales industry, it is common to display goods for sale using a sales display, sales rack or similar device for displaying the goods to customers. For example, in the retail clothing industry, inventory is typically displayed using clothing racks such as straight racks for use against a wall or circular racks for hanging clothes on a showroom floor. Each item of inventory is hung on a rack for the customer to inspect while browsing the showroom floor.
One problem with the typical method of displaying consumer goods is that, in order to show the customer the full number and variety of items available, each item of inventory must be stocked on the showroom floor, which decreases the available showroom space for other items. For items such as printed or logo t-shirts which are relatively bulky compared to their cost and compared to the profit margins associated with them, this means that a large amount of valuable showroom space must be occupied with a correspondingly lower profit return per square foot of space. Also, there may be a large variety of t-shirts with different printed designs, such as sports-team logos, to be displayed which further occupies valuable showroom space.
One solution to displaying available merchandise while minimizing the space needed to display the merchandise is to provide one sample of the merchandise on the showroom floor while keeping the remaining inventory in the storeroom. For example, t-shirts have been pinned to pieces of cardboard so that the printed design on the t-shirt is clearly displayed. The mounted t-shirt is then hung on a wall or placed on a display rack and is non-removable from either one. One problem with this solution is that the display samples of actual t-shirts still occupy a large amount of showroom space, particularly where there is a large number of different printed designs to be displayed.
Further, while customers can view the t-shirt design and make a selection, another problem with this method is that the customer must find a salesperson, lead them to the display wall or rack and show the salesperson which t-shirt they have selected. Alternatively, if the display t-shirt has been given a visible designation, such as a number, the customer must remember or write down the designation in order to relay the number to the salesperson and purchase the shirt. This may be inconvenient where a variety of shirts have been selected and many numbers must be remembered. Moreover, when the t-shirt is no longer in stock, the customer may unknowingly select an unavailable t-shirt based on the fact that the display sample is still on display and become frustrated. Thus, in order to avoid this problem, the salesperson must remember to remove the display sample or indicate that it is no longer in stock directly on the display sample.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a device for displaying consumer goods wherein the actual goods need not be stocked on the showroom floor, yet the full line of inventory can be displayed to the customers, and customers can browse through various styles and kinds of goods and easily select and purchase their selection.